Effect of UV-B on Rice is one the world's most important food crop and

grown mostly in tropical and subtropical countries. It is known that UV-B

radiation is highest in tropical regions where rice is grown, because the
stratospheric ozone layer is high latitudes, and solar angles are higher. The
reduction in its yield by UV-B can have adverse consequences in developing
countries, there are only few studies on the effects of UV-B radiation on this
species (Olszyk et al., 1995). The current information on rice is insufficient to
conclude the potential risks of UV-B exposure to rice production. UV-B
radiation would also have indirect effects on rice production through indirect
effects on other components of rice ecosystem such as weeds, diseases and
nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria. Terramara et al. (1991) showed that the
increased UV-B radiation induces a significant reduction in the total biomass
in a number of rice cultivars.
Accumulation of the UV-B-absorbing pigments is one of the ways by
which plants alleviate the harmful effect of UV-B light. In a study conducted,
we provided evidence for that UV-B mediates photo induction of anthocyanin
synthesis in seedlings of a cyanic rice cultivar, purple puttu, which is associated
with PAL biosynthesis (Reddy et al., 1994). We observed that sunlight triggered
the photo induction of anthocyanin in shoots of purple puttu seedlings,
whereas seedlings exposed to sunlight filtered through window glass showed
little formation of anthocyanin. Since window glass cuts off the wavelengths
shorter than 320 nm (Klein et al., 1979), we proposed that the induction of
anthocyanin was primarily mediated by the UV-B light present in sunlight. In
addition to UV-B receptor the anthocyanin level was also modulated by
phytochrome. The exposure of seedlings to far-red light (730 nm) reduced
anthocyanin level induced by UV-B, which was reversed by following with a
red light (660 nm) exposure. However, the anthocyanin photo induction was
restricted to only a few cultivars of rice indicating variability within the
cultivars with respect to anthocyanin induction.
We also observed
CYANIC MODERATELY ACYANIC
CYANIC that sunlight induced
PURPLE PUTTU TN1013 BLACK two distinct phases of
PUTTU phenylalanine ammonia
G2237 TN1013 BLACK lyase, the first one by
PUTTU photochromic and
R27 (P) G967 N22, second one by UV-B
HAMSA Receptor Classification
of some rice cultivars from India on the basis of anthocyanin pigmentation. It
is likely that a cyanic variety may be more resistant to UV-B induced damage.
The studies on resistance of cyanic varieties to UV-B light may help breeders
to generate UV-B resistant rice cultivars.
Although, at the moment, no conclusive data are available on the
possible protection of rice seedlings from UV-B radiation by anthocyanin and
other UV-B-absorbing compounds, the available information implies such a
role. For instance, seedlings of certain Arabidopsis mutants deficient in
flavonoids including anthocyanin’s are hypersensitive to UV-B radiation (Li et
al., 1993) and exhibit a lethal response, suggesting that the UV-B-absorbing
compounds play a protective role.
It can be argued that the UV-B-induced anthocyanin pigmentation in rice
seedlings may have a role in minimizing the UV-B damage. other molecules i.e.
copigment (Brouillard, 1983) and such complexation can protect partner
compounds against oxidative damages. For example: we observed that
anthocyanins prevent AsA against metal induced oxidation by forming a stable
AsA-metal-anthocyanin co-ordinate complex (Sarma et al., 1997). Above
complex protects AsA from H2O2 and OH•, but also protects anthocyanins
from damage. We found that purified DNA molecule can make a complex and
act as copigment to anthocyanin. When cyanidin-DNA copigment complex was
subjected to hydroxyl radical dependent oxidation it showed no bleaching and
shoed a 10-15 nm bathochromic shift to longer wavelength. Our results
indicated that once cyanidin complexes with DNA, it is no longer accessible to
the nucleoplilic attack by the OH· radical. To test whether cyanidin complexed
with DNA can afford protection to DNA from OH· radical attack, we exposed
the free DNA as well as the DNA complexed with cyanidin derivative to the
Fenton reaction. We found that the complexation of cyanidin to DNA
significantly decreased the DNA damage in vitro. Since in plant cell
anthocyanins are predominantly localized in the vacuole their putative role as
antioxidant in the cytosol has not been critically examined. exposure to high
light irradiance, especially, UV light resulted in increased DNA damage
measured as decrease in transcription rate and an increase in cyclobutane
dipyrimidine dimers. For example, the DNA in Zea mays plants that contain
flavonoids (primarily anthocyanins) is protected from the induction of damage
caused by UV radiation relative to the DNA in plants that are genetically
deficient in these compounds (Stapleton and Walbot, 1995). It was proposed
that these compounds apparently function as UV filters, since they absorb in
the UV region of the spectrum. Thus, results obtained in this study, that both
cyanidin and DNA mutually protect each other when present together is a
strong indication that in addition to the ability of anthocyanins to function as
effective filters for attenuation of ionizing events are also effective.